What To Do?

It's the end of the year, time to take stock of the previous year and look forward to the new one.  And therein lies my problem.  No Estes and no Estes great grand-baby to look forward to.

Do I keep the blog active or shut it down?

Is it fair to a new horse to have a "recycled" blog, or does the future horse deserve her own blog?

I just don't know.  A big part of me is leaning toward keeping this blog up and posting periodically, as I have been doing.  I guess right now, I'm just going to let the new horse (when I get her) decide whether or not she gets her own blog.  It will be months before I even start looking for a new one; I'm thinking May/June time frame.  Of course, there's always the possibility of AI-ing Audubon in the spring as well, so who knows?

Anyway.

Enough of the bleh stuff, let's take a look at what 2013 was like.

January
Her Highness moved from winter pasture down to fat pasture.  She needed to put on some weight and wasn't able to up at altitude.

February
Her Highness stayed at fat pasture with her buddy Paint and his seeing eye dog pony.

March
Got a phone call that Ida needed to move the animals off of fat pasture by the end of the month.  I scrambled and found a place close to home, thanks to some amazing friends.  For the first time since Estes became mine, I was going to be able to spend time with her every day.  I'm so glad it turned out.

April
Estes and I started Ease into 5K and she became quite the demanding personal trainer.  And then we got a freak snowstorm that derailed us.  I managed to get the first ride of the season in between snowstorms.

May
Estes' Great Escape happened in the middle of the month.  Apparently, the fresh green grass and new dandelions were much more tempting than the hay I had in my arms.  Winter continued to linger and linger up at the Lodge and it wasn't until the end of the month that we were able to move Her Highness up the mountain.

June
Bill and I went for our annual Father's Day ride with my son Digger on Washoe.  A couple of weeks later, Her Highness and I went on what ended up being our last ride together.  It was magical.

July
On July 2, I put Her Highness down.  It was the right thing to do and I don't regret it at all, but it was a very difficult time made so much easier by all of the support I received from my blog friends.  After putting her down, I put together a post of things every horse owner should know, based on what I learned during that difficult time.  I feel it's the single most important post I've written to date (on any of my four blogs).  It was not an easy post to write, but I wish I'd had something like this to refer to.  Just a couple of weeks later, I got a call from Ida that had me in happy tears.

August
Even without Estes, she still shapes me.  I had an idea to write a book about my years as a wrangler, but it was always a "one day" project. Losing Estes spurred me to finish my "one day" project and on the 31st of August, Tales from the Trail  (the book) was published.  The book gave me a chance to see, for myself, my growth as a horse person and a great deal of that growth was thanks to a headstrong, opinionated mare who allowed me into her heart.

October
Not such great news - Audubon didn't take, so there isn't going to be (at this point) an Estes great grand-baby.

November
Our very cold spell in November really made me very happy that Her Highness had already crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  Never thought I'd be thankful for that, but I can't imagine how miserable she would have been with temps below zero, not with the trouble she had keeping weight on.  I miss her, but it's not heartbreaking any more.  I can enjoy our memories of our times together and not feel sad.  Instead, I'm so grateful I had her in my life for so many years.

Solo Ride, June 23

AKA: Last Ride with Her Highness

Hey Mom, are we going for a ride?

Can we go?  We will be really good, we promise.

Those horses didn't want to talk.

The trail is almost gone, but I can find it.

Do you think the Moose Monsters are down there?

Much better than looking over the Moose Monsters.

You are going to make me go down, aren't you, Mom?

You hate that tree.  I am going to get very close.

Yes, I remember Rachel giggling here.

This is where the Moose Monsters hide.

Are there any Moose Monsters out there?

Off-roading!  It is my favorite.

There is someone out there.

Oh, there they are. Are they headed home too?  Can I stop traffic? Please?

Mmm.  Good ride, Mom.

Don't forget, there are only a couple of days left to enter the give-away.

The Queen's Reign Has Ended

Just before 7:00 am this morning, Her Highness, Queen Estes, decided it was time.

She colicked yesterday and tolerated being tubed, allowed me to give her banamine during the night, but this morning, she was done.

She allowed me to walk her out of the pen toward the trailer, with intentions of a quick trip around the block to see if we could get anything moving, but went down at the back of the trailer.  That's when I knew I couldn't torture her any more.

Mom and I had a quick conference about where the best place to put her down would be - God, I hate having to deal with those details when faced with killing your own horse - and found a place.

Estes got back to her feet and said her goodbyes while I went to talk to Bill and have a quick conference on which caliber to use - again with the awful details. I had promised myself after her last colic that I would be the one to pull the trigger if she needed to be put down.  She was my responsibility and I couldn't imagine allowing her to continue in agonizing pain while I waited for the vet to come up from Longmont, it would have easily taken him an hour to get here.

I got my gun out of the car and went to love her for a bit while she was still sort of feeling good.  By good, I mean standing like a statue in one place and letting us love on her.

I sent Mom away to talk to a guest who was sitting on the porch.  While Mom was gone, Estes went down again and rolled one eye at me, and very clearly told me, "I'm done."  If I had asked her to get up, she would have.  My crotchety old mare had a ton of heart, but it was time.

I had intended to wait until Mom was back, but when Estes looked at me like that, I had to do it.  It was equal parts awful and a relief.  I am okay with putting her down because she was in so much pain and there's no doubt that to wait would have been inhumane.  But I feel like I just killed one of my children, and that's awful.

During our ride last week, I knew that we were beginning our "lasts".  For every first, there's going to be a last, so I did my best to savor every moment with her.  I had decided that this would definitely be her last year on the hill, but I was also planning new firsts for us as we continued life down on the plains.

Now that she's crossed the Rainbow Bridge, she can meet up with my all-time best dog, Jake and they can take care of each other in a place where there's no arthritis, colic or end-stage renal failure (Jake).

Mmmmm, Her Highness is in T-r-o-u-b-l-e

Big, big trouble.

Apparently, today, Her Highness didn't feel like the hay I had in my hands; she wanted the beautiful spring grass and dandelions,thankyouverymuch. She executed one of her beautiful spins away from me and was out the gate, prancing along like she owned the world.

Ooooo...

I couldn't believe she pulled a stunt like that.  She usually hooks on as soon as I step into her pen and I don't think twice about the gate.  (Even if I'd wanted to shut the gate behind me, I couldn't have, I needed both hands for the hay and another two to pull the gate up out of the mud and close it.) 

I dropped her hay, marched to her little house, picked up her halter and headed out to get her.

I had visions of tromping all over the county road in my skirt with her halter and lead rope, but when I came out of the house, she had planted herself right in the middle of a dandelion patch.  Then I heard a truck tearing down the county road and all I could think of was, "please don't spook, please don't spook".  But, oh, no, Her Highness couldn't be bothered by something as mundane as a big ole pickup truck barreling down on her at 40+ mph.  She didn't even flick an ear when the truck blew by just a few feet from where she was eating.

As I was walking through the gate, a car came down the farm road (at a much slower pace) and passed right behind her.  Again, she didn't care.

Nor did she care when I walked right up to her and slipped her halter over her head.

But she *did* care when she got popped in the nose with the lead rope for trying to dive back into the grass on our way back into her pen.  Twice she cared, then she remembered her manners.

She also cared a great deal when she got tied up while I finished moving her hay from where I dropped it to where it was supposed to go.

She might be the Queen, but I'm the one with opposable thumbs and she'd do well to remember that.

First Ride of the Year

The snow finally melted for a couple of days and both Estes and I needed to move.  But the mud was gross enough that I didn't want to try to run in it - I was afraid I would have fallen right underneath her.

I had to use a step stool for a mounting block, I was still almost too short.

I think Buck wanted to go too

The green was very tempting for Her Highness

So tempting that she had to walk in the road until she could remember her manners.

The wind picked up and it got a little chilly on the way back.

AFTER the ride, she was allowed to graze.  She looks like she's in Heaven.

It was a very short first ride, but it felt really good.  We've got snow coming in again tomorrow, so it'll be a few days before we can venture out of the pen.

Darn it.

Last Ride of the Year

I'm really behind on some rides for this year. I think I've even managed to skip over my birthday ride - and that was in July! Maybe getting those posts up will keep me busy this winter when I get to missing my girl.

Today was cold and windy, but the horses are going to winter pasture next week, so today was the only chance I had to ride before Her Highness went on vacation. Mom and Bill's horses might be back in a month or two, but Her Highness will go down to fat pasture in January. She needs it. Even though she's been maintaining her weight for the most part, fat pasture is so good for her, plus it's at a lower elevation. Winters at altitude are kind of tough on the old girl. Down closer to 5,000 feet will be much easier, as it's typically ten to twenty degrees warmer down there, not to mention much less windy.

At her age, I'm getting worried about sending her out to pasture, honestly. I know Ida takes amazing care of her and will keep an eye on her, but I still worry that she won't make it through the winter. That sounds terrible, but she's 25-ish and the fact is, she's geriatric. I know that by sending her down to fat pasture, she'll be much more comfortable, will gain some weight, and Ida will treat her well.

I had hoped for some good weather, but it didn't look like it was going to happen, so we loaded up anyway. Ashinator was c-r-a-n-k-y that I woke her up from her nap to take Ranger out. I actually had to pull rank and tell her she was going to do it, I wasn't asking. Want to know how to piss off a teenager in about 1.5 seconds? Wake them up from a nap and tell them they are going to do something.

Oh, she put on a good show of being pissed off. Well, it wasn't really a show, because she was super pissed and stomped around the lodge like only a nineteen year-old girl can. Beel was actually worried that Ranger was going to dump her because Ranger is really sensitive to moods. Beel was fairly certain that Ranger wasn't going to put up with a certain cranky someone's shit.

Boy, was Beel wrong. Ashinator had never caught Ranger before, and if he don't want caught, it ain't happening. However, Ashinator stomped through the pen with the lead rope in hand and I'll be darned. He put up a token resistance. And I mean token. To just stand there and get caught is against his nature, so he had to shuffle his feet a little bit and go down to the stream to get a drink of water, but he pretty much haltered himself for Ash.

She muttered and cussed me out the whole time, but Ranger just followed along and agreed with her. While she was catching Ranger, Estes kept trying to go to her. I had walked up and haltered Estes and was watching Ash to see if she needed any help with Ranger, but I had to hold Estes back. What is it about horses that just want to "heal" cranky girls? All that negative energy pouring out of Ash and Ranger and Estes couldn't get close enough. WTH?

Ash does a pretty good job of Cowgirl-ing Up. It's been probably three years (yes, she reminded me of that fact) since she's been on a horse and we gave her the Rachel treatment - just threw her up there bareback.

Oooo, she was cranky. 1) I had the audacity to wake her up and *tell* her she was going to ride; 2) I made her ride bareback; and 3) Washoe kicked a rock and caused Ranger to skitter sideways. It was after the skitter that I was reminded - loudly - that she hadn't been on a horse in three years.

You know that old adage, "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man"? It's so true.



Look at that cranky girl!

Less than a block later,
Ranger had worked his magic.

Half a mile in,
she was telling Ranger that they should hang out more often.

The gratuitous three generations shot.

Because it was so cold and windy, we only rode around the Ski Road loop, but it was plenty to get Estes warmed up and moving well and enough for Ashinator to shed her cranky pants.

And since it's our last ride of the year, here's an almost-good picture of me with Her Highness.

I rarely allow myself to be seen in my glasses,
but I was too lazy to put my contacts in.

Poor Bill didn't get left behind, thought it might look like it since he's not on his horse. Here's photographic proof we didn't leave him...

See the date stamp?
And Estes' butt?
Proof that I didn't just post a picture from a previous ride.

How To Make Me Happy

Say fabulous, wonderful things like, "Don't worry, Estes is amazing, she does whatever GunDiva asks her to".

Boy, have we got College Boy fooled, but it was a nice compliment anyway and it made me all proud and smiley.

On Sunday, Compass decided to have a photographer/videographer come out and take some promotional shots for her website/facebook page.  Estes and I just tagged along behind everyone else, not really a part of the ride (especially since I was bareback and they don't really offer bareback rides to guests), but helping out where we could.

One of the areas we were able to help was with ponying the photog's horse while he was moving spots and setting up shots.  He had his camera set up and wanted to take some video of the horses' hooves as they crossed what little water we have.  He asked us to take the horses back and forth across the creek a couple of times "if it wasn't any problem".

That's when College Boy piped up and bragged on my horse for me.

Yep.  It still makes me smile that someone else thinks my horse is perfect, too.

Oh Boy

Today's ride kind of sucked.  Not sucked-sucked, but not as fun as the last one was.

I braided a neck rein using bailing twine (I love that stuff) and intended to use it for most of the ride, while using the halter/rein as back up.

I totally stole the adustable idea from Julie Goodnight.

On the upside, my favorite wrangler went out with us as far as the switchback.  He was waiting on a four-hour ride to show up, but wandered out with us until he saw his ride pull into the parking lot, then he had to turn back.  College Boy's got a great way with horses and Estes loves him very much - she just buries her head in his chest whenever she sees him.

That's College Boy on Cinchy in the back.
Yes, it's hunting season, time to break out the orange.

Estee was going so well that I seriously considered taking off her halter/rein and stashing it at the top of the switchback.  Good thing I didn't.  We had lots of discussions.

Lots and lots of discussions.

At every trail that headed home.

Estes is pretty light in the mouth, it doesn't take a whole lot of mouth pressure to get her to do anything.  However, she's not so light when it comes to nose pressure.  One of my "steps" to going bridleless was to switch out to Mrs. Mom's halter and Ashee's barrel rein to see how she would do without a bit.  Let's just say I got a total body workout today.  She's starting to get the idea of nose pressure, but she's also figured out it's a whole lot easier to eat without a bit in.  I've got to get that issue figured out.

We stopped for a picnic at the pond again.  Mostly so I could look around to see if I could find my knife that I lost last week.  Ranger Danger really enjoyed the dessert aspect of the picnic.

"Beel!  What is in yer hand?"

"Beel!  Want I should taste that for you?"

"Whoa, that's a wobbly rock.
You're not gonna fall, are you Mom?"

In between the discussions, we did enjoy the views.  The aspen are turning and it's hard to believe that just last week the pond looked like this...

This is what the same area looked like today...

Fall is pretty amazing.

After the picnic, Estes and I continued to have discussions, though they were fewer than on the way out.  I'm guessing that would be because I had come to my senses and we were headed home.

When we got back to the Lodge, Estes very nicely parked herself at the tackroom door for me to dismount.  This time, she didn't go up onto the steps.  I eventually slid off (hey, I was tired and the ground seemed like an awfully long way down) and lead her to the hitchrack, but I didn't bother tying her up.  Once she's "parked" at the rail, she's there until I move her.

Without a second thought, I went into the Lodge through the tackroom door and she followed me right in.  No hesitation like last time.  She just wandered in like she owned the place.

"Last time, there were treats Mom."

Man, I love this mare!

She was showing an interest in all of the people barn this time and headed toward the living room, so Bill hustled out with the video camera.

"Hey Beel, are the treats in there?"

It didn't take much to encourage her to cross the scary rugs once she saw me standing on them, and I'm really glad her little skitter on the hardwood was with her unshod back feet. I'd still be on my hands and knees sanding the floor if she had scuffed up the floor with her shoes.

You'll be happy to know that when she went back to the rail, I actually hooked her up. I might have created a monster.

What a Difference! (Warning: media heavy)

Just a week ago, I was contemplating retiring Estes.  I was trying to come to terms with the fact that we may have had our last ride together.

Yes, we'd gotten her on supplements and she was moving better.

Yes, we'd gotten her back fixed and she was moving better.

But she still wasn't right and I was trying to figure out what to do.  I could probably still ride her if I moved her down to the flatlands, but what kind of fun is that when we're both used to riding in the mountains?  She has to have a job or she's destructive.  Ask Mom.  Estes has eaten several of the crossbars of the fence.  I wasn't convinced that moving her down to the flatlands would work for either of us.  But I can't afford to keep a horse I can't use, either, and I promised her other mommy that I'd be her forever home.  I wasn't a very happy person while I was trying to figure out what to do.

And then our farrier suggested shoes.

Oh, my hell.  My mare is back!  She was shod on Monday and on Thursday, Bill and I went out for a long ride - about 2 1/2 hours.  She was feeling so good that we went on some of our favorite trails, starting with the Willow Tree Trail.

And the fun begins...

Tippy-toe

Those idiots at the ranch down the road have trimmed
back the willows.
Idiots.
I hate them.
No, really, I do.

It's been a while,
"Hey Bill, which way?"
"Just go up and over"

After we lived through going on
"Not the trail"
Doesn't look so bad from this angle.
Bill didn't take pictures as we were picking our way down.
Something about being afraid we'd fall on him.

But he kind of redeemed himself with this video of the last climb out of the trail.

Estes was feeling really good after the Willow Tree Trail, so we decided to head across the Beaver Ponds.  She must have been thirsty after the hike over the Willow Tree Trail, because she did something that I don't recall her doing before.

She almost didn't leave any water for Ranger.

When she was done drinking up Rock Creek, we crossed over and I got the coolest. picture. ever.

Not sure how I managed this,
but I love it!

The Beaver Ponds were gorgeous as always and Her Highness was still feeling good, so on we went to a trail that isn't my favorite, but it's a good test of how her feetsies were doing.  It's a rarely used, steep, ugly trail.  Not ugly as in looks-wise, but ugly as in rocky and steep.  I don't even have a name for that trail.  I've pretty much named most of the ones we ride, but this one has remained name-less.

See?
Steep.
Ugly.

We decided that since the horses had worked so hard, they deserved a picnic.  Ranger chose a nice place, but was a little too insistent, so Beel said no and we pushed on to the pond.

It was a real horse picnic,
I even took Estes' iron bar out of her mouth.

Look closely...
there's a napping Bill back there.

No singing frogs this time of year,
but it's still pretty.

It was a pretty good picnic.

I'll pick up the last part of the ride in a later post...it's one small step toward our goal of riding bridleless by the end of the season.